Seed firmer for passive seed orientation within agricultural fields

A seed firmer comprising:

• a base support configured to engage a bottom of a trench for planting seed in the trench;
• a lower member integrated with the base support or coupled to the base support, the lower member having a non-planar ground contacting lower surface disposed on a side of the lower member configured to be adjacent to a first wall of the trench, wherein the lower surface is configured to adjust an orientation and a depth of the seed within the trench;
• a first seed vision system configured to detect an orientation of the seed within the trench before the seed firmer passes the seed;
• and
• a second vision system configured to detect the orientation of the seed within the trench after the seed firmer passes the seed.

A seed firmer comprising:

• a base support configured to engage a bottom of a trench for planting seed in the trench;
• and
• a lower member integrated with the base support or coupled to the base support, the lower member having a non-planar ground contacting lower surface disposed on a side of the lower member configured to be adjacent to a first wall of the trench, wherein the lower surface is configured to adjust an orientation and a depth of the seed within the trench;
• wherein the lower member has a first width at a first frontal region, a second width at a second intermediate region, and a third width at a third rear region, wherein the second width is greater than the first width and the third width is greater than the second width.